Critters
March 6, 2024
This Texas Photographer Turns Dead Animals Into Poignant Portraits
Amanda Stronza pulls over to document coyotes, deer, and squirrels killed along highways.
Animals
Latest
1-50 of 52 Articles
Working Life
October 10, 2023
A North Texas Couple Turns Creepy-crawlies Into Works of Art
Butterfly wings, tarantula legs, and “Frankenstein” beetles—the insect taxidermists of Pinned Ptera find the beauty in it all.
Critters
September 8, 2023
Meet Texas’s Strangest Turtle
Found in the state’s riverways, the spiny softshell looks like a cross between a brontosaurus and a pancake.
Meanwhile, in Texas
September 8, 2023
Meanwhile, in Texas: A Snake, a Hawk, and a Woman Had an Unlikely Encounter . . .
Plus, expired paperwork brought a great westward journey to an end, and an interdimensional portal did not open.
Health
August 8, 2023
The Monkeys Who Died to Fight COVID
Texas Biomedical Research Institute helped subdue the coronavirus and has big plans for combating future disease threats—with controversial help from its thousands of research primates.
Texas History
May 3, 2023
Marrying an Elephant, Adopting a Chimp: Tales From the Life of Houston’s Wildest Zookeeper
Charismatic German immigrant Hans Nagel revolutionized the Houston Zoo and kept it afloat during the Great Depression.
Sports
July 28, 2022
The Night That Grasshoppers Killed Texas League Baseball
Fifty years ago, a minor league game in Midland was postponed for the rarest of reasons—a swarm of grasshoppers biblical in its proportions.
Art
April 8, 2022
Texas’s Newest Master Sculptor Is a Parrot Named Hannah
Houston sculptor John Havel discovered he was living with a genius. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, my parrot can make Giacomettis.’ ”
Critters
September 14, 2017
Meet the Baby Beavers, Squirrels and Ducklings Saved During Harvey
Just look at these little guys.
Critters
September 8, 2017
How Harvey’s Animal Rescue Organizations Avoided Repeating The Problems Of Katrina
The lessons learned in 2005 informed the rescue operations in Houston and the Gulf Coast.
Critters
April 27, 2017
Pearland Police Captured Dashcam Footage of a Daring Duckling Rescue
”Sergeant Carroll was alerted by the mother duck” to the situation.
The Texanist
May 23, 2016
The Texanist: Bidding Farewell to Supper and Complaining about Cold Tortillas
Our estimable advice columnist on saying “I do” to a potbellied pig, bidding farewell to supper, giving your regards to Texas, and complaining about cold tortillas.
The Daily Post
December 22, 2015
What You Should Know About H3N2, The Dog Flu Strain That Hit Texas
H3N2 is ”highly contagious,” according to veterinarians, but with a low mortality rate—so be aware, but don’t panic.
Critters
September 18, 2015
Furry Friday: Balam The Jaguar Cub Is The Reason You’re Going To Lufkin
Jaguar cub! Jaguar cub! Jaguar cub!
The Daily Post
February 18, 2015
Richard Linklater Thinks You Should Be a Vegetarian
In a new video for PETA that spoofs his own Boyhood, Linklater explains why spending the past thirty years as a vegetarian has been such a great decision for him.
Country Notes
February 3, 2015
Consider the Chicken
The competition at the Big Bend Livestock Show is fierce. But treat your animal right and you might get to be number four with a pullet.
Critters
December 5, 2014
Furry Friday: Humane Society Shows Video of Dog Euthanasia Procedure to Harlingen City Commission to Encourage Spay/Neuter Laws
That is a pretty stark way to get the point across.
Critters
November 26, 2014
A Man Being Sued by the Owner of the Dogs Who Killed His Beagle in His Yard Won’t Settle
The case has sparked predictable outrage.
The Daily Post
November 14, 2014
A McAllen-Based Pets Website Is Being Sued for Selling People Sick Dogs
People who paid as much as $3,500 for purebred puppies allegedly found themselves receiving dying animals instead.
Critters
November 7, 2014
Somebody Paid $50,000 to Name the New Baby Giraffe at the Dallas Zoo
Our new get-rich-quick scheme involves acquiring a bunch of baby giraffes.
Critters
October 24, 2014
Furry Friday: Dog Costume Contest
Austin Dog Rescue is honest about how voting works. The dog that gets the most money wins.
Critters
July 24, 2014
A Tyler Family Was Reunited With Its Lost Dog After It Spent Six Years Living With A Family Who Rescued It From A Shelter
It's an impossible situation for everybody, but legal ownership goes to the people who are listed on the microchip.
Critters
July 18, 2014
Furry Friday: Labrador and Cheetah BFFs, Amazing Chihuahuas Uniforms, and Dog-Obsessed Austin
Some updates on what's up with our furry friends.
Critters
July 3, 2014
A Big Rat Snake Is Ssslithering Through San Antonio’s Sssewer Lines
Probably not rats, though, if this guy is around.
Critters
May 16, 2014
A College Station Woman Found a Twelve-Foot Python in Her Freaking Bathtub
AAAAAAAAAAH!
Critters
May 2, 2014
A Fort Worth Veterinarian Has Been Accused Of Keeping A Dog He Was Supposed To Have Euthanized Alive For Blood Transfusions
If it's true, it's a horror story.
Critters
April 18, 2014
San Antonio Is Home to This Very Fat Kitty
This isn't actually funny.
The Daily Post
February 20, 2014
Alas, This Adorable Dog Will Not Be The Next Mayor Of Irving
The taciturn candidate has been ruled ineligble due to paperwork errors.
Critters
January 10, 2014
This Animal May End Up Changing the Law About When Texas Can Euthanize a Dog
The story of Buddy the dog, a six-year-old golden retriever in San Antonio, could have big implications for Texas' controversial "severe bodily injury" laws that allow local animal control departments to euthanize people's pets.
Critters
January 2, 2014
Texas Courts Can Now Include Pets in Protective Orders in Domestic Violence Cases
After eight years of lobbying, the Texas Federation of Animal Care Societies finally got the law in effect.
Critters
January 21, 2013
‘Science’ Proves Bigfoot Is Real
A Texas scientist purports to have sequenced Sasquatch DNA.
Energy
January 21, 2013
No Endangered Species Listing for Dunes Sagebrush Lizard
The oil industry cheered news Wednesday that the tiny lizard will not be added to the endangered species list.
January 21, 2013
Furry Fellowship: Grapevine Pastor Ed Young Brings a Lion, Lamb to Easter Sermon
Megachurch Pastor Ed Young, known for his unorthodox methods, brought the beasts onstage as a metaphor for Jesus. But did the stunt violate a city ordinance?
January 21, 2013
Company Denies Dumping Pig Blood in Trinity
The Columbia Packing Co. denies knowingly releasing pig blood into the Trinity River and responds to allegations it has a secret sewer pipe that bypasses the city's monitoring device.
January 21, 2013
Energy Company Opts Not to Exterminate Prairie Dog Colony
Before developing a drilling site in Burleson, Chesapeake Energy relocates a prairie dog colony.
True Crime
January 1, 2013
The Mystery of Lightning Medicine Cloud
When a rare white buffalo was born in North Texas, thousands came to celebrate the new age he heralded. A year later the animal was dead.
January 27, 2012
Win the Weekend: What Texas is Talking About
Dublin Dr Pepper is still in business, Rick Perry has been less popular before, and other news you need to know.
January 24, 2012
A River (of Pig Blood) Runs Through It
Columbia Packing Co., a meatpacking plant in Dallas's Oak Cliff neighborhood, has been accused of dumping pig blood into Cedar Creek, which feeds into the Trinity River.
Energy
December 5, 2011
Decision Delayed on the Fate of a Tiny Lizard
The feds have postponed their decision on whether to add the dunes sagebrush lizard to the endangered species list until mid-2012.
Sports
November 2, 2011
UTEP Football Coach Wants to “shoot white Horned Owls” in Houston
Mike Price tries to fire up his team at practice for this weekend's Rice game with fake arrest and hunting jokes.
Letter from San Antonio
October 31, 2011
Dogs of War
Why did the world’s most high-tech military bring along a dog when it raided Osama bin Laden’s compound? A visit to Lackland Air Force Base’s canine training school, in San Antonio, provides a few answers.
Critters
June 1, 2011
Rattled!
My short, unfulfilling, momentarily terrifying career as a rattlesnake racer.
Critters
July 31, 1997
Pig Out
A swimming swine’s squeally big show comes to an end.
Books
March 1, 1994
Animal Writes
Eight indigenous authors, nine native critters: A bookish look at the wildest, woolliest creatures in Texas history.
Critters
May 1, 1991
A Fool for Mules
One man’s quest to clear the reputation of an animal maligned.
Critters
June 1, 1990
Animal Attractions
These seven creatures might be piggy-backed, whale-boned, dog-toothed, goat-eed, elephant-eared, turtle-necked, and bull-headed, but they’re stars just the same.
Critters
January 1, 1990
Swamp Thing
Snapping turtles are cantankerous, grotesque, and savage. And those are just a few of the reasons I like them.
Style & Design
November 1, 1989
Creature Comforts
Horns, hooves, and hides for the home.
News & Politics
July 1, 1988
Nature of the Beast
A tiger, a zoo, a terrifying death.
Critters
December 1, 1984
The Great Texas Alligator Hunt
They told me alligators don’t eat people. But when I found myself face to face with one in a dark East Texas swamp, I hoped they’d told him too.